IEEE 802.1x authentication is currently a standard solution for hospital information technology departments. Typically, each network device must be manually provisioned with authentication credentials. For example, in order to use 802.1x authentication hospitals and institutes need to manually install certificates on hundreds of infusion pumps. These certificates may have a lifetime of 12 months, so the effort must be repeated each year. Adding in thousands of other devices, one may see the substantial effort required to manually update the authentication credentials on each device.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.